Of Springtails and Such is a journey to discovery, and a window to the future.... Janel Troide-Heflin 2011-2014 - @JanelHeflin on Twitter

Saturday, March 2, 2013

Oysters: If You Believe this One, I've Got a Bridge to Sell You

While the following excerpt taken from the Gulf Coast Initiative's website reads as though our oyster population came through the Deepwater Horizon oil disaster with flying colors, note the closing paragraph where it indicates that the data may be skewed due to the timing of the research study, and the "possible" lack of exposure to oil. Well, isn't that the goal of the research? To determine the direct effects of the crude oil AND Corexit on the food chain?

As oysters are filter-feeders, and, are part of Mother Nature's water purification system, additional, continuing research needs to be conducted.

Nearly three years post oil disaster, some of the most horrific ramifications to the Gulf of Mexico and its inhabitants are just now becoming apparent. If the oyster population hasn't been harmed by the spill and the Corexit, then why is Apalachicola Bay a dead zone - its oyster population nearly extinct?

I guess my point is this: Take everything you read with a grain of salt. Just because it is "written," doesn't mean it's true! Especially where research was made possible by "big oil" funding.

AND CONSIDER THIS... perhaps there is no discernable difference pre and post the BP oil spill, because crude oil has been leeching into the Gulf for a much longer period of time than the oil companies, and the government will admit to.

*********************************

Studies Indicate that Oyster Tissue and Shell were Similar in Pre- and Post- Oil Spill Conditions

Drs. Ruth Carmichael and Thomas Soniat led studies using the eastern oyster, Crassostrea virginica,
as an indicator for potential oil spill effects on local food webs
along Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama coasts. Oysters are a species
of choice for ecosystem studies because they are economically and
ecologically valuable to the Gulf region and because their tissue and
shell act like powerful recorders of their environment.

The Soniat team looked for biological responses, such as increased
susceptibility to disease and reduced reproductive capability, to
hydrocarbon contaminants in oyster tissue. Researchers recorded oyster
health, sex, and gonadal condition; analyzed tissue for polycyclic
aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs); and measured environmental conditions of
temperature, salinity, and oxygen. The Carmichael team looked for
consumption of oil-derived organic material, including six trace
elements most likely to

(Click to enlarge) Oysters collected at one of the sampling sites off the Louisiana coast. (Photo credit: Thomas Soniat)

indicate exposure to oil hydrocarbons, in new shell growth of oysters
as well as in their tissue. Researchers analyzed stable isotopes in
oysters and in suspended particulate matter available as food and
compared them with weathered and fresh oil. Neither study found evidence
of oil-related contamination at levels above prior background or
pre-spill conditions. Soniat’s results found that PAH levels,
environmental conditions and reproductive capacity in oyster samples
were similar in oiled and unoiled areas six months after the capping of
the wellhead. Carmichael’s results found that oil-derived elements did
not have a statistically significant influence on the stable isotope
composition of oyster samples.

Soniat cautioned that his group’s results not be over applied because
of the study’s spatial and temporal limitations. Carmichael suggested
that her group’s findings have alternate possibilities including the
oysters not consuming oil materials during their period of study or
oyster samples consuming too little to detect. Both studies point to
complexities in interpreting and isolating potential effects of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

(Click to enlarge) Oyster sampling sites along the Gulf coast for studies led by Dr. Thomas Soniat and by Dr. Ruth Carmichael.

This research was made possible in part by Grants from BP/The Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative (GoMRI) through the Alabama Marine Environmental Science Consortium and the Northern Gulf Institute . The GoMRI
is a 10-year, $500 million independent research program established by
an agreement between BP and the Gulf of Mexico Alliance to study the
effects of the Deepwater Horizon incident and the potential associated impact of this and similar incidents on the environment and public health.